Watching Studio60

That’s the unlikely plot of 17 Again, in which the former Matt Albie plays a disappointed thirtysomething who goes back in age but not in time — apparently with the help of some sort of magical custodian — to become his hot teenage self. Zac Efron (who, technically, just turned 21, but still has some high-school roles left in him) plays Perry’s character in adolescent form, dressing stupidly, meddling in the lives of his teenage children, and being inappropriate with his wife. Above is the new trailer for the film; below, interviews with the cast, including Efron attempting to imitate Perry’s mannerisms.

The film is being described as a kind of reverse remake of Big, but the film it makes me think of is … Seventeen Again, with a word and not a numeral, and Tia and Tamara Mowry as a teenage girl and her magically teen-again grandma. In that one, if I recall correctly, a science-genius grandson (played by another Mowry, Taj) gets some magic age-reducing goop on some soap that the kids’ warring grandparents both use. The long-running marital travails are replayed high-school style, complete with classic dance moves.

I’ve only ever seen that flick on TV, where my daughter has watched it many, many times. She’s probably not the only Zac Efron-demographic Disney Channel-lovin’ kid who’s done so. Don’t know that the title echo will bug those younguns, but I’ll be looking for grannie and gramps jitterbugging in the corner.

Matthew Perry, 17 Again, Seventeen Again, Zac Efron